White House: Last Islamic State ground in Syria eliminated

By DEB RIECHMANN and LOLITA C. BALDOR
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla.  — Islamic State-held territory in Syria has been “100 percent” eliminated, the White House announced Friday, though officials said sporadic fighting continues on the ground between coalition forces and the group’s holdouts.
The complete fall of the last IS stronghold in Baghouz, Syria, would mark the end of the Islamic State group’s self-declared caliphate, which at its height stretched across large p